The 'All at less than 9% Utilization' experiment

[Anonymous]

[UPDATE: January 7, 2019]

Transunion finally updated. New FICO 8 Score: TU 689. 

It looks like all the scores are stable now. I'll wait until February 11 to generate a new myFICO monthly report (I will still get FICO score changes when they happen, just without the detail of a full report), to allow time for Transunion to update after both of my card statement closing dates. Card 2 closes the day after Card 1.

These snapshots show the result of a loan closing, and new revolving accounts showing up at each bureau. It's basically around a 30 point drop on this scorecard for closing a loan. [EDIT Clarification: It's a FINAL ~30 point loss after a HUGE DROP for 1 loan closing without any revolving accounts on the report (-81 points at Experian for instance, I'm unsure how much a single loan drop is for the other 2 bureaus because I don't get that level of detail with myFICO alerts) followed by a HUGE GAIN for adding a new revolving account.]  Huge gain for adding 1 new credit card, and the second card added right after doesn't seem to have any effect at all.

The next FICO score changes will be from 2 on-time payments reporting (to $0 balance of course), a 6.75% utilization on Card 1, and 7 to 8% utilization on Card 2. I'm done using Card 1 for this billing cycle - it has $135 on it out of $2000. I just started using Card 2 for gas and groceries, and will continue to use it up to a maximum of $520 out of $6500, which is 8% utilization. These credit cards are merely a vehicle for proving that I always pay my bills on time and that I am extremely fiscally responsible.

 

[Anonymous]

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@Pikaboo-icu wrote:

I use the Citi Costco Card at the pump as my main method to purchase gas.

You do not need to use the membership card- the Citi card works as both membership & payment. 

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Thank you, Pikaboo - you are right, I only had to use the one card. I only ended up looking like an idiot at the Costco gas pumps for 10 seconds, because apparently I got the one gas lane reserved for peasants and it didn't have Visa payWave. So I was looking for it on the pump while the guy behind me was probably saying, "Oh great, another new member at the gas pumps for the first time."

Just adding this for anyone else browsing: Another cool thing is when I got to the register, I just handed the guy the Citi card instead of membership card, and after he scanned everything he just asked me if it was ok to wave it over the terminal. I said "Yes", got my card and receipt and on my way. Pretty cool.

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

I'll be tracking 32 scores from now on. In a few weeks I will start getting Experian Creditworks Premium updates from 2 new statement balances reporting at 7/7/7 utilization. That's Card 1 @ 7%, Card 2 @ 7%, Aggregate at 7%.

	AoOA 1 yr 1 mo, AAoA 5 mo, 1 closed loan, 2 open revolving
CassTrack-32 v1.1	1 inq EQ, 3 inq TU (1 < 1 yr), 1 inq EX, No derogatories, No delinquencies
Baseline: 01/18/2019	Card 1 Balance 40/2000, Card 2 Balance 0/6500
	Both statement balances were recorded at all 3 CRA's between 1/3 and 1/9.	01/18/19
FICO 8	EQ	684
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity
FICO 8	TU *(Dropped 4pts from 689 on 1/21/19, 'Too many accounts with balances' was added)	685*
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity
FICO 8	EX	699
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, Few accounts in good standing
FICO 9	EQ	699
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO 9	TU	698
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO 9	EX	708
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, Few accounts in good standing, Too many accounts with balances
Vantage Score 3.0	EQ	676
Vantage Score 3.0	TU	672
Vantage Score 3.0	EX	676
Experian National Equivalency Score	EX	730
FICO Auto 8	EQ	655
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Auto 8	TU	675
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Auto 8	EX	683
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Few accounts in good standing
FICO Auto 9	EQ	704
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Auto 9	TU	700
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Auto 9	EX	716
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Bankcard 8	EQ	676
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Bankcard 8	TU	687
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Bankcard 8	EX	703
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Few accounts in good standing
FICO Bankcard 9	EQ	709
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Bankcard 9	TU	711
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Bankcard 9	EX	718
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO 2	EX	727
	Short credit history, Short revolving history, Too many accounts with balances, Recently opened too many new credit accounts
FICO 3	EX	712
	Short credit history, Short revolving history, Too many accounts with balances, Seeking credit
FICO 4	TU	686
	Short credit history, Short revolving history, Recently opened new credit account, Seeking credit
FICO 5	EQ	696
	Short credit history, Short revolving history, Too many accounts with balances, Seeking credit
FICO Auto 2	EX	703
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Auto 4	TU	679
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Recently opened new credit account
FICO Auto 5	EQ	706
	Short credit history, Short revolving history, Too many accounts with balances, Recently opened new credit account
FICO Bankcard 2	EX	732
	Short credit history, Short revolving history, Too many accounts with balances, Recently opened too many new credit accounts
FICO Bankcard 4	TU	685
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, Few accounts in good standing, Recently opened new credit account
FICO Bankcard 5	EQ	705
	Short credit history, Short revolving history, Short installment credit history, Too few or too many revolving accounts

[Anonymous]

I just accidentally PIF'd all accounts to zero and dropped 20 points. Experian alerted the drop to "no revolving accounts".
Will try to keep 8% going forward.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I just accidentally PIF'd all accounts to zero and dropped 20 points. Experian alerted the drop to "no revolving accounts".
Will try to keep 8% going forward.

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You mean you made payments to $0 just prior to the statement balances being reported to the bureaus?

Did Experian say 'no revolving accounts with balances'?

[Anonymous]

@cassie yes. This is what Experian said in my credit score alert.
I no longer have any balance reporting. I'm at $0 for all cards. 😐

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
@cassie yes. This is what Experian said in my credit score alert.
I no longer have any balance reporting. I'm at $0 for all cards. 😐

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For the next statement balance, you should try letting 1 card report 6% utilization, with the rest still at zero and see what happens.

My Experian Creditworks Premium report tells me 'Ideal usage is 6%', like that's an important number to Experian. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but I'm pretty sure you'll get that 20 points back plus some extra.

[Anonymous]

I'm just going to keep it around 8%.

[Anonymous]

February 8, 2019: This is the baseline report for this experiment. Both cards now have 7% utilization. In March it will be 6/6, and April will be 5/5. Is there a breakpoint at 6 or 5 ? We'll see!

CassTrack-32 v1.2 Little Dipper	Common data No derogatories No delinquencies 1 closed loan 2 open revolving 1 inquiry EQ: 12/18 1 inquiry EX: 12/18	02/08/19
Previous Report 01/18/2019	AoOA: 1 yr 1 mo AAoA: 5 mo AoYA: 1 mo 2 inquiries TU Accounts with balances: 1 Card 1 Balance: 40/2000 (2%) Card 2 Balance: 0/6500 (0%) Aggregate Utilization: 0.47%
Current Report 02/08/19 What changed?	AoOA: 1 yr 2 mo AAoA: 6 mo AoYA: 2 mo 2 to 1 inquiry TU Accounts with balances: 2 Card 1 Balance: 135/2000 (6.75%) Card 2 Balance: 453.41/6500 (6.98%) Aggregate Utilization: 6.92% ***Note on TU scores***: An inquiry aged past 1 year on January 23. There was a myFICO alert to a +7 score change on January 31 (689 to 696), before any new statement balances were reported on either of my 2 revolving accounts. FICO 8 TU really only went down by 1 point with both cards carrying a balance. Interesting EX change: One card reported its new statement balance 3 days before the other one, moving from $40 to $135, and my Experian score (from Experian CreditWorks report) went down 3 points (699 to 696). There were no other changes from the previous day's report. It looks like the EX FICO 8 score doesn't change moving to both cards with balances. But it does change a little on FICO 9. From this point forward, the only changes to my credit file will be ageing, good payments, and various monthly statement balance changes all under 9% on both individual and aggregate. It will be very easy to identify changes in score from changing utilization percentages in the [4,8] interval.
	New statement balances recorded at all 3 CRA's between 2/2 and 2/8. Score reports from myFICO 3B+, Credit Karma (TU/EQ VS3), and Credit.com (EX VS3, ENES)	01/18	Δ	02/08
FICO 8	EQ	684	-3	681
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity
FICO 8	TU [ an inquiry aged past 1 year on Jan 23, only 1 inq under 1 yr now]	689	+6	695
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity
FICO 8	EX	699	-3	696
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, Few accounts in good standing
FICO 9	EQ	699	+7	706
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO 9	TU	698		698
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO 9	EX	708	-6	702
	Change: Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, +No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances, -(Few accounts in good standing)
Vantage Score 3.0	EQ	676	+9	685
Vantage Score 3.0	TU	672	+8	680
Vantage Score 3.0	EX	676	+9	685
Experian National Equivalency Score	EX	730	+1	730
FICO Auto 8	EQ	655	-3	652
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Auto 8	TU	675	+7	682
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Auto 8	EX	683	-3	680
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Few accounts in good standing
FICO Auto 9	EQ	704	+8	712
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Auto 9	TU	700		700
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Auto 9	EX	716	-7	709
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Bankcard 8	EQ	676	-3	673
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Bankcard 8	TU	687	+7	694
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Bankcard 8	EX	703	-5	698
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Few accounts in good standing
FICO Bankcard 9	EQ	709	+6	715
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Bankcard 9	TU	711	-1	710
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Bankcard 9	EX	718	-6	712
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO 2	EX	727	-6	721
	Short credit history, Short revolving history, Too many accounts with balances, Recently opened too many new credit accounts
FICO 3	EX	712	+1	713
	Short credit history, Short revolving history, Too many accounts with balances, Seeking credit
FICO 4	TU	686	-4	682
	Short credit history, Short revolving history, Recently opened new credit account, Seeking credit
FICO 5	EQ	696	-5	691
	Short credit history, Short revolving history, Too many accounts with balances, Seeking credit
FICO Auto 2	EX	703	-5	698
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Too many accounts with balances
FICO Auto 4	TU	679	-4	675
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, No recent loan activity, Recently opened new credit account
FICO Auto 5	EQ	706	-5	701
	Short credit history, Short revolving history, Too many accounts with balances, Recently opened new credit account
FICO Bankcard 2	EX	732	-6	726
	Short credit history, Short revolving history, Too many accounts with balances, Recently opened too many new credit accounts
FICO Bankcard 4	TU	685	-4	681
	Short credit history, Short revolving credit history, Few accounts in good standing, Recently opened new credit account
FICO Bankcard 5	EQ	705	-7	698
	Change: Short credit history, Short revolving history, Short installment credit history, +Too many accounts with balances, -(Too few or too many revolving accounts)